Abstract: Tailings are the inevitable products of mining and selection.The traditional methods of tailings disposal will cause serious safety and environmental problems.The resource utilization of tailings is an important way to solve the tailings disposal.This paper introduces the basic types and main components of China’s metal tailings, the general situation of tailings production and utilization, the safety and environmental problems faced by tailings storage, discusses and combs the main policies and measures adopted in recent years to promote the development of tailings utilization industry in China, and focuses on the analysis of the main ways of China’s metal tailings resource utilization.It includes tailings re-concentration and valuable element recovery, tailings preparation of building materials, tailings used for goaf backfill, tailings used for agriculture and forestry.Combined with the current prominent problems faced by China’s tailings utilization industry, this paper puts forward some suggestions on accelerating the development of tailings comprehensive utilization industry from the perspective of policy and technology.The research results are helpful to fully understand the current situation and development direction of China’s metal tailings production and utilization industry, and provide data support and intellectual support for realizing the construction goal of green mines.